Scandinavian Working Papers in Economics

Discussion Paper Series in Economics,
Norwegian School of Economics, Department of Economics

No 20/2022: Does Increasing Risk Widen Gender Gaps?

Samuel D. Hirshman () and Alexander Willén ()
Additional contact information
Samuel D. Hirshman: Dept. of Economics, Norwegian School of Economics and Business Administration, Postal: NHH, Department of Economics, Helleveien 30, N-5045 Bergen, Norway
Alexander Willén: Dept. of Economics, Norwegian School of Economics and Business Administration, Postal: NHH, Department of Economics, Helleveien 30, N-5045 Bergen, Norway

Abstract: We examine the response to an exogenous change in the risk profile of an important educational choice – requesting a regrade. We demonstrate how ostensibly gender-neutral policies can generate gaps across men and women because they differ in their perceptions of risk. Specifically, we show that an exogenous shift in the risk of requesting a regrade augmented the regrade request gap by nearly 100 percent. We show that this has consequential implications for students through its impact on their grade points. These findings reveal how gender differences identified in the lab manifest when men and women make real world decisions.

Keywords: risk; gender gaps; educational choices; inequality

JEL-codes: D81; I24; I26; J16; J70

Language: English

28 pages, December 6, 2022

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